Centre, J&K govt fail in ensuring peace: Abdullah

National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah today accused the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir government of "failing miserably" in ensuring peace in the state as well as on the border and warned that the situation would worsen because of delay in resolving the Kashmir issue.
He accused the central and the state governments of pursuing the policy of "oppression and suppression" and said they should "honour the wishes and aspirations of the people by initiating necessary measures and address all issues through dialogue."
"Kashmir is a political issue and needs to be resolved on priority so that people in the state can live in peace. As long as its resolution is delayed, the situation is bound to deteriorate further instead of getting back on track," he said while interacting with party workers and delegations from various parts of the state here.

The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister who was recently elected to the Lok Sabha from Srinagar also blamed the "wrong policies" of the Centre and the state government for the prevailing situation in the hinterland and along the border.
"The Centre is playing vote-bank politics by pursuing a hardened policy on Kashmir," Abdullah said.
"The state government, on the other hand, is only concerned about saving its chair and dancing to the tunes of the RSS," he said while accusing the PDP-BJP coalition of bringing the state on the "path of destruction".

Abdullah alleged that the central as well as the state governments have "miserably failed" in ensuring maintenance of the 2003 ceasefire along the border with Pakistan.

"Both the governments are restricted to issuing statements only and are least concerned about the welfare of the people who are facing tremendous hardships and miseries," he said.
On November 25, 2003, India and Pakistan had agreed to a formal ceasefire along the International Border, the Line of Control (LoC) and the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) in Jammu and Kashmir.
The ceasefire worked for a number of years but over the last few years, Pakistan has been repeatedly violating it by indulging in cross-border firing and shelling and pushing militants into Jammu and Kashmir.
Last year, Pakistan violated the ceasefire along the LoC 449 times while in 2015, there were 405 violations. These incidents resulted in the killing of dozens of Indian security personnel and civilians, besides displacement of thousands of people.

Abdullah said while the law and order situation in the valley was getting worse with each passing day, communal forces were gaining ground in Jammu region.
He asked his party workers to reach out to the people and help them in redressing their grievances.